Right now, drill more drainage holes in the bottoms of pots that are two sizes larger than the pots your Crape myrtles were sold in. Remove the Cms from their pots and check the rootball, if the roots have become rootbound cut them straight down from top to bottom using four slices evenly spaced around the rootball. Then transplant them into the larger pots. Be sure to mix some good quality non-burn, slow release fertilzer like Osmokote into the backfill potting soil, unless your are using potting soil that already contains fertilizer. Next dig planting holes and drop the newly transplanted CMs into the ground in an area with full sun exposure. Maybe on the south side of your house with fairly good sun from dawn to dusk; if there is no exposure like that at your place, sink the pots in either the northwestern or northeastern corners of your lot. Do not dead head for reblooming this year, so that the trunks can thicken up and harden off in a manner which will make them better able to handle their dormant period this coming winter. Daily watch the folliage. At the first sign of leaf wilt, begin watering them several times each day untill the leaves look healthy again. Otherwise, only water when the potting soil in the pots seem dry about an inch down. If later in the year, when your Fall temps break; if the predicted freeze is expected to be a light freeze. water them well again just prior to the freeze hitting. Repeat this procedure with them until the forecasters begin predicting hard freezes that could dip below 27 degrees. If by this time the Cm has experienced some light freezes it should be just about fully dormant. Even if it does not seem that far dormant, dig up the pots and put them in your garage. During days that are above freezing move them just outside again. But make sure to put them back into the garage over the periods of times when temps are expected to drop below freezing. Toward the end of winter when the temps begin to play around the 30 to 50 degree temp ranges again begin to harden them off for their outside move. Keep moving them back into the garage, though, whenever the temps are forecast to drop into the lower 30s and could easily drop to freezing even for short periods. But make sure to bring them out for ever increasing daytime periods which promise to stay above freezing. Once the last threat of a possible late freeze period ends; that could be as late as the near the end of April or later in your area, plant your Cm in the soil where you want them to grow. That must be an area that gets either full sun or full day dappled sun. Once they are fully leaf out again and have completely broken dormancy, prune away of last winter's dead branches or seed pods which is still on the shrubs. To do that cut each dead part either all the way back to the nearest trunk it attaches to or back to the first set of three leaves on the branch. For the first three years they are planted in the soil, let them bloom naturally whenever they want and do not do dead heading to try to force the CM to rebloom again more quickly. Only in the summer after their third year should it be safe to begin deadheading spent blooms before the seeds can fully develop. On each branch which has spent blooms simply prune back to the first set of three leaves. You can do this all summer long to encourage your Cms to bloom more often. Just be sure you stop doing that about 6 weeks prior to your first expected or predicted drop in temp down to freezing. Next winter just before the first predicted light freeze water them very well just prior to the temps dropping. On the other hand just prior to the first time the temps are predicted to drop down to a hard freeze; water the Cms well, and cover their rootballs with a layer of 6 inches of shreaded cedar bark mulch. In the following spring be sure to pull that mulch back at least 4 to 6 inches away from each cMs trunks. Following that, as soon as the temps remain above freezing and the CM has fully leafed out, select the strongest,thickest, and straight up growing trunks to become the number of trunk legs that you desire each of your CMs to have. Prune all the other thinner and weaker growing trunks out. Follow that by pruning away any of the side branches on any of your desired to remain trunks. Prune enough of the leaves and side-branches off to clean the trunks up the the height you desire for your Cms. After that go through the remaining canopy of your Cms. With each branch cut back to the first set of three leaves any dead wood, dried seed heads which remain from the previous year. Never do a Crape myrtle "Murder" pruning on your CMs. If you do not know what that means, simply do a google search for explanations of that outdated type of pruning. Once your Cms grow to the top heights you desire of 8 to 10 feet, simply during the above describe prune times, prune them in a manner which takes each branch, pruned one at a time, back to the lowest set of three leaves that are about a foot or two lower than what your want the over height for the shrub to grow in the summer. Every year thereafter follow that same kind of pruning practice.

Can't help you here. I had two crape myrtles that were the centerpiece of my bed in the front of the house die over the winter. One sent up 3 suckers from the base, the other is completely dead. Like a dummy, I planted two dynamite crape myrtles in their place at the wife's insistence. Were they healthy when they entered dormancy? Mine got powdery mildew pretty bad just before leaf drop and we know what happened to those. I know we have been in a drought for a year and I believe you also have been? Crape myrtles are hardy in our zone, though. My parents live about 30 minutes from my place and they have literally dozens of them. Some trimmed up every year, and others left to grow naturally. They have never lost a single one in about 15 years.

If it can get to -20* in northwest AR and kill the crapes to the ground, I wouldn't get my hopes up too high in z6, sorry Toronado! Maybe as a potted specimen. Otherwise as much winter protection as you can spare would be the only way. Have you thought about taking a cutting of the one you see in the neighborhood? I would think that would be your best bet. It has clearly taken a z6 beating numerous times and survived. Crapes are about the toughest plants around here I have experienced. Maybe take a few cuttings to make sure you can get them to root. I dug a couple crapes out of my front bed that had only been there 1 year and I have suckers EVERYWHERE coming up from the severed roots. 1 I let grow and it shot up over 2' and flowered profusely. Good luck! John

I went to college in New Orleans. It was a horribly long, depressing, and expensive experience. There were many times when I was at the end of my rope. Honestly, I don't think I would still be alive, if the sight and fragrance of Crape Myrtles hadn't occasionally reassured me. So yeah, I can see why you want one. I have my desk positioned so that I can look out at my own beautiful CM. It's at least forty years old, and twenty feet tall, with a beautiful, unmolested, mature shape: very much a tree from the Jungles of India. The blooms are a rich orchid/violet color, and are at their peak right now. And yes, the tree continually tells me that everything will be all right. To grow one in New Hampshire, you will need: .A hardy variety .A sun trap (preferably a SE exposure beside your house) .Seriously deep mulch in winter Or: a miniature variety in a pot